I was one of them (reminiscing BPO moments)!

I was on my way to DBP last Nov. 8 and the service that I rode decided to take the route in Burnham Park. While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, I noticed 2 people (one that looked like a lesbian and one that looked like a gay **i concluded it based on their appearance and clothes**) The thing that got my attention when I looked at this two individual is that the one of them is wearing the Sitel ID and both of them are carrying a box and I know that it contained the coveted Plantronics Headset. I smiled when I saw them, I immediately remembered my Sitel days. I know that the 2 dudes are still on their OCP period/Training Period (laymans term). I know the feeling of being on the training period, its actually the best part of being in the call center industry. This is period where you will just sit for 8hrs and listened to your trainer talk and talk about the product, experiences and other stuff. This also the period where trainees are very special, because everyone on the floor (Coaches, QAs, Mentors, and the upper Management) are always visiting the training room and welcoming them to the account, giving them expectations about the work that they are going to do. 

I stayed in Sitel for 2 years and 3 months and 29 days. I can say that its a one of a kind experience. I can say that my experience made me who I am today, I have learned a lot and most especially, I have learned to be myself and not to be pretentious in front of other people. Whenever I go to work at Sitel before, my mantra is that this is going to be another challenge. A challenge to wake up at night to prepare for work, challenge to survive the 8-hr shift, without having too much escalation and released calls (not for me! hah!), challenge not to be sleepy during the shift, challenge to be patient with my customers and the list just go on and go on. For over 2 years, after my shift, my dialogue would always be "I don't like this job, it sucks, I don't deserve to be treated like this" I always complain, regardless, if I have a good day or bad day. From the time that I started at Sitel until I resigned on April 26, 2013, I know that I have been complaining about my job. If I will describe my call center experience in one word, it would be "extraordinary". Extraordinary in a sense that I have lived to the expectations of my superiors when I was still working there. I was a good agent. I was meeting my metrics and even exceeding it. I was in the World's Class Agent's list for 2 consecutive months, I was named Top agent for one quarter and always on the top for having high CSAT (Customer Satisfaction). I never thought that I would have these awards. My goal when I entered Sitel is to have job and I guess having these awards is just the perks of it. Jamming sessions with my co-workers/team mates is also extraordinary, we always talk about the bad calls that we have and most importantly the bloopers (the agents and the customers). Having this post on my blog is not actually enough for me to describe my whole experience in the call center industry.

Many people would like to enter the industry where I came from. They say that you can have high salary when you there and also the perks and benefits of it.

From my point of view, there are my advice if you really would like to be in the call center industry.

1. You need to be independent (you will be alone during breaks, most of the time)

2. You need to take criticism constructively (don't complain if your coach/TL is giving feedback/barbar sessions)

3. You need to be a certified vamp! (stay alive at night)

4. You need to be flexibe (schedules are sometimes being change weekly)

5. You need to have strong body resistance (motto: bawal magkasakit!)

There you go, those are just some of the things that you need to be for you to enter the industry. Actually, I did not intent to have this post on my blog this month, its just that when I saw them walking on that day, I know that I have to do this, and this is also for me to reminisce the days when I was still an agent solving customer issues. Now that I have been out of the industry for almost 2 years now, I realized that at the end of the day, we need not to complain about the job, because the job gives us the bread and butter to use to buys things for ourselves and for our families. We should be very thankful that we are blessed that we are given these job.

So that's it folks. Hope you like it.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

marj:)

Turning Point. Love Life. Don't Grow Old Broke!

I already have a blog before but for some reasons, I was not able to continue it after 3 posts. Maybe because, I got lazy to write something or maybe because I just don't have the motivation and the inspiration to do it. Now, I decided to permanently shut my other blog and start a new one. Why? I just want to start fresh and to change the theme on my blog. I want to write inspirational stories about my life and the life of other people. 
The reason behind my title which is "Turning Point. Love Life. Don't Grow Old Broke!" is basically the things that happened to me, and the things that I want to say to myself. 
Turning Point, this is where we will realize our purpose on why we are on Earth and also this is where we will be able to use our potentials in achieving our goals. This also when something happens to us and we immediately realize the wrong things that we have done before, then that's when we will have a 360 degree turn to try to fix things up before its too late. Love Life, life is giving up ups and downs. Sometimes its all downs, but hey, we are lucky, we are still alive and kicking, the mere fact that we are alive means that we are meant to do something here on Earth. So while we are determining our purpose, why not love the life that we are given, enjoy each moment because it will not last a lifetime. Instead of complaining on the rain, why not dance on the rain. Don't Grow Old Broke!, this is a statement that I got from Francis Kong. This 4 letter statement is very powerful for me because this is what I don't want to become when I am old. Who would want to grow old broke and has a lot of debts? of course no one would want that, so as early as now, we need to do some things and sacrifice some for us not to grow old broke. 
So, there you go, you already have an introduction on my blog. I won't introduce myself because I want you to know me on the post here on my blog. 

Happy reading everyone!

Cheers!

Marj:)